Well. Well. Well.
The world seems to be in quite a state these days.
Hearts and minds in quite a tussle.
Debate raging worldwide over the price of a human life.
Chicago’s own struggle with the reality of actually being a sanctuary city. Thousands of immigrants struggling to exist in a city paved with cold.
A month-long horror engulfing Israelis and Palestinians providing troubling TV footage in our living rooms.
To wit: a 10-month old Israeli baby held hostage in a nightmare underworld in Gaza, a 3-year-old Israeli hostage taken from her slaughtered parents, hundreds of newborn Palestinians trapped dying in unpowered incubators, a Palestinian hospital bombed by Israelis searching for a Hamas control center.
Ground offensive.
Air offensive.
So we watch; we wince; some of us weep. Some of us take sides.
We ask what really matters?
Are we really asking that question?
So on this Thanksgiving Day — despite polling showing our nation so divided and disillusioned — let’s give thanks for the hope of a humanitarian pause to free victims from unspeakable carnage and pause as Americans to count our blessings … as well as those at our table … and try not to abandon each other.
Forsaken is mistaken.
Let’s also give thanks once again for …
• Clear thinking. Family. Close friends.
• A brave heart, a kind heart.
• Separating fools from folly.
• Taking a hand, patting a shoulder, being there for someone.
• Truth. Candor. Tempered by understanding.
• Walking in safety.
• The freedom of a car. Stops along the road.
• Trust.
• Curiosity.
• The memory of mom’s mincemeat pie at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Time off. Time out.
• Newspapers, always.
• Truth. Candor. Tempered by understanding.
• The unbelievable beauty of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
• Atonement. Forgiveness.
• The gift of life.
• My country.
• Kindness. Giving. Sharing. Taking when necessary.
• The comfort of animals.
• Freedom.
And let’s also pause to consider what it really must be like to live in a tent anytime of the year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
A Special Thanks…
Still in hospice care in his plain two-bedroom home in his eye-blink hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter, 99, the oldest living former U.S. president, will spend his first Thanksgiving without his beloved wife and life partner, Rosalynn, who died Sunday.
When Mrs. Carter, who had been diagnosed with dementia this year, turned 96 in August, a butterfly release was held at the couple’s home.
All has been quiet in Plains since Mrs. Carter’s death. Family will surround Jimmy Carter on Thanksgiving Day. And hopefully, there will be one thing for the ailing former president to enjoy on our national day of gratitude: his favorite peanut butter ice cream.
Sneedlings …
Condolences to the family and friends of the late David Bahlman, the former CEO and president of Landmarks Illinois in Chicago (1999-2008), a stellar advocate of historic preservation and a leading driver in the campaign to save architect Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in far west suburban Plano. To know David Bahlman was a gift. To travel with Bahlman and his lifelong partner Howard Klosterman and their close friend Leslie Hindman to France’s historic Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte years ago was priceless. … And condolences to the family of a political legend, James “Pate” Philip, Jr., an old school Republican who led the state Senate from 1993-2002. Gruff, tough, and a cigar puffer, Pate, who died Tuesday at 93, was famous for his political savvy and shrewdness. ... And a cigar whose ashes could land in your lap if you asked a question he didn’t like! (Best to ask when the cigar wasn’t lit. Trust me.)
Thanksgiving Day birthdays: Miley Cyrus, 31; Robin Roberts, 63.
